Mercy Street on the Drama channel is 3 episodes in and it's compelling, fascinating viewing, especially for me knowing almost nothing about the American Civil War. It follows two volunteer nurses from opposing sides working in a once grand hotel in Virginia which has been converted into a makeshift hospital.

The above makes for a pretty picture but there are some more uncomfortable scenes such as a civilian doctor undertaking a previously unperformed operation on his own injured brother: stoical New England Abolitionist nurse reads out the anatomical instructions to him from a book whilst timid, but toughening-up Southern Belle Confederate nurse copes well with the chloroform anaesthetic.

Absorbing, brilliantly acted drama.

never/ever wrote:I consider people using Latin in a general conversation as snobs. And you can quote me verbatim on that.

Samoan wrote:How have I only just found out about Detectorists. It's an absolute joy and a fest of gentle English eccentrism.Mackenzie Crook, who also wrote & directed, and Toby Jones are cast to perfection...

I could sit happily through a weekend just watching episode after episode, and somehow feel like I was becoming a better person in doing so.

Channel 4 drama about four British Muslims who travel to Syria to join ISIS. This was uncomfortably compelling, scary, and sad.

The most unnerving thing about watching this though has been being redirected to some utterly stupid reviews and comments (most likely from people who have never watched it) who think this is glorifying the death cult. Depiction isn't endorsement. Next they'll be saying Schindler's List is Riefenstahl-like Nazi propaganda. Honestly, these comments are enough to give me an aneurysm and have almost made me forget what a powerful and sad piece of television The State really is because they anger me.

driftin wrote:The most unnerving thing about watching this though has been being redirected to some utterly stupid reviews and comments (most likely from people who have never watched it) who think this is glorifying the death cult. Depiction isn't endorsement. Next they'll be saying Schindler's List is Riefenstahl-like Nazi propaganda. Honestly, these comments are enough to give me an aneurysm and have almost made me forget what a powerful and sad piece of television The State really is because they anger me.

That reminds me of when trainspotting came out and they said it glorified drug use. I remembering thinking of the scene were renton was so desperate for drugs he stuck his head down a toilet to get some he dropped. If that's glorifying then............

Drama Queenie wrote:You are a chauvinist of the quaintest kind. About as threatening as Jack Duckworth, you are a harmless relic of that cherished era when things were 'different'. Now get back to drawing a moustache on that page three model

Watched the repeat of the premiere episode of "The Orville" last night, following the hurricane relief special.

I thought it was pretty bad. Not even a proper Star Trek parody, it basically is Star Trek, with light comedic touches and a maudlin love story between the only two characters that have any depth at all. And when I say it is Star Trek, I mean down to the orchestral incidental music and long, boring docking scenes. I only thought a few bits were funny; most of the gags seemed terribly obvious attempts at humor. Could be a short voyage for the Orville if this show doesn't get the ratings the network was hoping for, since this seems like it would be a terribly expensive show to produce.

pcqgod wrote:Watched the repeat of the premiere episode of "The Orville" last night, following the hurricane relief special.

I thought it was pretty bad. Not even a proper Star Trek parody, it basically is Star Trek, with light comedic touches and a maudlin love story between the only two characters that have any depth at all. And when I say it is Star Trek, I mean down to the orchestral incidental music and long, boring docking scenes. I only thought a few bits were funny; most of the gags seemed terribly obvious attempts at humor. Could be a short voyage for the Orville if this show doesn't get the ratings the network was hoping for, since this seems like it would be a terribly expensive show to produce.

Yeah but Adrianne Palicki is in it, Hellooooo!

Drama Queenie wrote:You are a chauvinist of the quaintest kind. About as threatening as Jack Duckworth, you are a harmless relic of that cherished era when things were 'different'. Now get back to drawing a moustache on that page three model

Caught the first episode of 'Star Trek: Discovery' last night, which unexpectedly aired on CBS, presumably to drum up subscriptions to their streaming platform. I was pretty bored through the first 45 or so minutes of it. It seemed to confirm my suspicion that Trek has basically been done to death in the 80's/90's, and seemed to make all the same mistakes those post TOS series made -- particularly how all the aliens are basically just humans with superfluous bumps on their head. And they somehow made the Klingons even uglier than before. I'll admit it did take a while to feel comfortable with the fact that the two main leads were going to be female, and Michelle Yeoh's wise, benevolent captain character who responds to every crisis by smiling wisely and benevolently got pretty old quickly for me, but my main complaint in the long run was that the only major male character was a simpering, bumpy-head alien. BUT, the last 10 minutes or so suddenly got very interesting, and seems to be setting up what might be the "Game of Thrones" of Star Trek series, which might not be very 'Star Trek' but sure as heck seems more interesting than what I thought we were going to get.